Courtesy: Fiji Live


NZ bounces back, beats Vanuatu 2-1

June 09, 2008

The New Zealand Futsal side bounced back after its shocking loss to Solomon Islands last night and overcame a tough Vanuatu challenge to register its first win in the Vodafone OFC Futsal Championships at the Vodafone Arena in Suva this afternoon.

The Kiwis found a tough going in the first spell and were held 0-0 by Vanuatu which played some constructive football.

New Zealand broke the deadlock in the 11th minute of the second spell when Andrew Gwilliam took a stunning drive which fell into the net giving Vanuatu goalkeeper Chikau Mansale no chance at all.

With just five minutes on the clock, Vanuatu captain Ben Edward leveled the scores with an individual effort.

The Vanuatu celebration was cut short when replacement Gregory O’Connor scored the winner in second last minute of the match.

New Zealand coach Erkin Osman was delighted with the win and thanked his boys for fighting till the end.

“Vanuatu was a very good team and they really took us to the wire but I am glad that we came out victors in the end and this shows that we are back in business.

“We needed to win this match to remain in contention and now with the win in the bag we will work out our strategies for the remaining matches and see how we can go about winning the remaining matches which all will be tough” he added.

New Zealand plays Tahiti tomorrow while Vanuatu faces New Caledonia.

Starting teams:

New Zealand- Elias Billeh, Luke Field, Marvin Eakins, Joshua Martin, Ouadhah Ragued.

Vanuatu- Chikau Mansale, Ben Edward, Fedy Vava, Derek Malas, Jack Ala





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com